Dior’s 2013 Secret Garden Campaign

DIOR 2013 SECRET GARDEN CAMPAIGN

This campaign is a pastiche of Édouard Manet’s ‘Luncheon on the Grass,’ which was painted between 1862-1863. Manet used his artwork to ‘break French academic tradition’ and experimented with bringing societal normalities and issues into his art work. Within traditional French paintings, before Manet’s work, naked women were used to represent mythology only however Manet placed an ordinary naked women within a prosaic setting to show refusal ‘to conform to convention’ (Kelly RichmanAbdou, My Modern Met). Within Dior’s campaign, they have recreated the ‘luncheon’ scene with the models lounging on the forest floor in an orderly manner. The two models who are representing the men from Manet’s work are dressed in black, professional office wear that tailor their bodies connoting their power and authority. As well as this, the front model is positioned to have her legs spread across the photo which may suggest control over the female as it is obstructing the view and hiding part of her body. In contrast to this, the two models are blind folded inferring that the males are only able to see the female for her sexuality and are blind to her intelligence and strength. The model representing the female juxtaposes the other models as she has blonde hair, lighter complexion and is wearing a bright red, feminine gown. The use of the colour red immediately draws attention to the model and connotes being strong and aggressive. Dior may have chosen this colour to reference upcoming female empowerment and how the freedom of women has progressed since Monet’s artwork in the 1800s. In addition to this, she is the only character making eye contact with the camera which hints at her bold character and her willingness to stand out from the crowd. Manet’s work can be considered ‘the departure point for modern art’ (Kelly Richman-Abdou, My Modern Met) so Dior may have chosen to recreate this campaign to show their state of transition within their business as they announced their new artistic director, Raf Simons.

In 1999, Yves Saint Laurent also decided to recreate the ‘Luncheon on the Grass’ by Manet. YSL decided to swap the identities of the males and females within the original artwork; the males were left nude whilst the female, modelled by Kate Moss, is in an androgynous pin stripe suit and sitting higher than the two males. As the late 90s was the time of the ‘third wave of feminism’ (Afua Hirsch, The Guardian) YSL may have released this campaign to show their support to the movement as well as implying that their brand is about female empowerment. Many of the campaigns that have mirrored classical art are from high end fashion houses. This may be because these luxury brands want to associate themselves with the prestige of classical paintings through both their branding and their market prices. Whereas, high street brands may be less likely to choose this route of marketing as it may not adhere to their branding style. As well as influencing many fashion campaigns, previous artwork has also influenced many magazine editorials including Vogue, Vanity Fair and Harpers Bazaar. This includes using celebrities such as Nicole Kidman and Mariah Carey to act as significant faces of history such as Marie Antoinette. Magazines may choose to use celebrities to enact these roles in order to captivate their consumers as well as to making their magazine seem more desirable and prestigious.